Who is ‘obsessed with men playing in women’s sports’? JD Vance says Democrats, but Ohio Republicans can’t get enough.

This story first appeared on The Buckeye Flame.Vice-President JD Vance spoke at a rally for Republican candidates in Lima, Ohio, on Friday. In that speech, he brought up the infinitesimal number of trans Americans participating in athletics.“We have a Democratic Party that is obsessed with things like men in women’s sports,” said Vance, using transphobic language to misgender trans women. Yet the actual mentions at recent campaign events tell a story of the “obsession” that is starkly different from Vance’s. The Buckeye Flame conducted a review of 20 campaign events in Ohio since the start of September. At those events, Republicans raised transgender-related topics 31 times.Democrats’ mentions? Zero.At the Friday rally alone, Vance and another Republican candidate raised the topic of “men playing in women’s sports” five additional times:Vance: “Marcy Kaptur voted multiple times to keep giving your tax dollars to schools that let boys play in girls’ sports.”Vance: “If we take the smart leadership this state has had and replace it with a person who wants to mask your kids and have girls play with boys in sports, then you’re never going to get the great economic boom that is coming to this state.”Derek Merrin, Republican candidate for U.S. House: “Marcy Kaptur now is claiming that she no longer wants men out of women’s sports.”Merrin: “Kaptur has voted two times against a bill that would have prohibited that practice, and she’s a six-time co-sponsor of the radical Equality Act, which would allow men to play in women’s sports and even allow men to force themselves and allow them into women’s locker rooms and restrooms.”Merrin: “Republicans are for common sense and are fighting for our children to keep men out of women’s sports.”In addition to those six Republican mentions, here is the tally from the 19 other campaign events:October 12: President Trump held a rally in Youngstown with Republican candidates: Number of t